Southern Bergen County primed for Broncos, Seahawks

By JAMES P. HICKEY

Managing Editor |

South Bergenite

It is finally here.

Football fans gathered at Victory Sports Bar and Nightclub at the Meadowlands to watch the AFC Championship game on huge wall to wall screens last Sunday. The area is priming for football frenzy when the Broncos will take on the Seahawks on Feb. 2 at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford.

Awarded the Super Bowl four years ago, the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks will square off for the title at MetLife Stadium on Feb. 2. But the Super Bowl has become much more than a game for the region that hosts it.

Events are offered throughout the week leading up to kickoff. From outdoor tailgating in East Rutherford to the Broadway Boulevard in Manhattan, there are many ways that area residents can enjoy the Super Bowl XLVII experience without having a ticket for the big game, but even tickets to many of those events outside the stadium are going to cost you.

Towns get into the spirit

In the borough that the game will be held, East Rutherford is holding a tailgate party. Playing off the news that those in attendance for the game could not hold a traditional tailgate at due to the scarcity of parking, the Tailgate East Rutherford will host activities from 11 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 2, just before the Super Bowl is scheduled to kickoff at 6 p.m. Admission is $10, with free admission for children under 12-years old. Food trucks will be set up and children activities will be offered. Music will be performed by BSTREETBAND and The Nerds starting at 1 p.m. The activities and music will take place near the 9/11 Memorial Park, with Park Avenue and possibly a portion of Union Avenue closed off. Town officials are expecting a crowd between 3,000 and 5,000 people to attend.

While not directly connected to the Super Bowl, a day before the big game Rutherford will be hold its annual Winter Festival Saturday, Feb. 1 from 12 to 7 p.m.

Offering ice skating on an artificial, synthetic ice skating rink, with rental skates available, horse and carriage rides, and a beer tent, the event will be held around the Lincoln Park area. The Kootz and the E Street Shuffle Band will perform in the park, while vendors will sell hot chocolate and other warm "comfort foods," and winter-themed crafts will be offered. An ice carving demonstration is planned, along with a variety of children's activities.

On the other side of the Hackensack River, Secaucus will attempt to break a Guinness Book world record for largest mozzarella at their Winter Blast at Buchmuller Park. Schedule over three days, Jan. 30 through Feb. 1, events will include ice hockey games featuring retired Devils players, a beer garden and an assortment of food trucks.

Billed as the "Pre-Game before the Big Game," Winter Blast, sponsored in part by North Jesrey Media Group, owner of the South Bergenite, dates and times are Jan. 30 from 4 to 10 p.m., Jan. 31 from 4 to 11 p.m. and Feb. 1 from 11 a.m. to midnight.

A highlight of Winter Blast will be the Food Truck Mash-Up - 30 award-winning food trucks will sell a variety of delicious foods every day of the event. First Avenue and Wilson Street in Secaucus will be closed to traffic to accommodate the food trucks and the beer garden, which will feature brews from Brooklyn Brewery, Heineken and Bud Light. Lovelectric will be performing at the beer garden on Friday and Saturday nights.

The ice rink will showcase a special Winter Blast Squirt Tournament with teams from Englewood Field Club, Bayonne Rangers, Secaucus Recreation and the Rockets Red. The sled hockey teams are NJ Freeze and Philadelphia Flyers and the Challenger Hockey team is from Brick. During non-game times, open skating will be available to whoever wants to give it a whirl. New Jersey Devils alumni players Bruce Driver, Gary Marshall and Ken Daneyko will appear at a meet and greet session on Friday, Jan. 31 at 5:30 p.m.

Spectrum Works is teaming up with Toscana Cheese Co. to set the Guinness World Record for the largest "Foot-Ball" of Mozzarella (over three hundred pounds) to raise autism awareness. Spectrum Works students and employees with autism will assist in the creation of the record breaking mozzarella football as well as miniature versions which will be sold at the event.

Online tickets are $10 per person per day, a family four-pack is $30 and an adult three-day pass is $18. Children under 10 years of age will be admitted for free. At the door, admission is $15 per person per day and a family four-pack is $40.

While others like Montclair and Hackensack have downsized or cancelled their plans, The Village of Ridgewood will has a weeklong "Pre-Game Celebration," starting Jan. 26 and ending through Feb. 2. Events will take place all over the village. There will be ice skating, show shoeing, movies, games, a chili cook-off, music and a marching band performance. The Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce is hosting.

For updates and full details see

ridgewoodchamber.com.

Party Planners

The parties that surround the Super Bowl during the week have become as big as the game itself and some area establishments are hosting some special leading up to the game.

While most bars in the area will host some sort of special, Redd's the Super Sunday Tailgate Party is being hosted by the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Priced at $595 a person, the party includes private valet parking for all guests, less than one mile to stadium (closest parking lot outside of Official NFL security perimeter). The pregame festivities will feature Hall of Famers Archie Manning and Lynn Swann guest-hosting the event. The event will also feature guest appearances from NFL Hall of Famers and celebrities from sports and entertainment. Those in attendance will be able to choose from a menu of gourmet foods, specialty dishes and an open bar with top-shelf drinks.

For those looking for options less expensive option in the shadows on MetLife can go to Kilroy's Sports Bar where $60 gets you access to both parties inside and outside. The bar is offering a special food and drink packages with table service starting at $2,000.

Getting and staying here

It is just not town and restaurants that are attempting to offer those coming to the game. Flights are being booked and accommodations are being gobbled up by fans at hotels while residents in the surrounding towns are offering up their homes for those looking to stay at a cheaper rate.

Tickets to get into the game are starting to appear on the secondary market. Tickets on StubHub.com Monday morning for the upper end zone start at $2,528 for a single ticket and go all the way to over $38,000 for tickets in the lower bowl on the 40 yard line behind the visitors bench.

Fans of teams who look to book flights can expect to spend over $300. On Monday morning, prices for a round-trip flight, non-stop, leaving Seattle Friday, Jan. 31 and returning Monday, Feb. 3 starts at $654. That same trip from Denver is going for as low as $335.

Compared with the same time last year, reservations in the Northern New Jersey area during the Super Bowl time period are up 54.5 percent, according to TravelClick.com. Some of New Jersey's budget hotels have reportedly increased prices 10 times their normal charge. Prices for area hotels are listed include $569 a at the Courtyard Lyndhurst Marriott, $719 a night at the Fairfield Inn in East Rutherford and $499 a night at the Hilton Meadowlands.

For those looking for other options than a hotel, area residents are offering up their homes the days surrounding the game. Among those found on craigslist.com include a one bedroom in East Rutherford for $1,500 a night, a three bedroom for $2,255 a night in East Rutherford, $1,699 for a two bedroom apartment in Lyndhurst and a one bedroom in Rutherford being offered for 5 days/6 nights for $6,500.

Boutique websites have setup for the occasion as well, like super-bowl-rentalz.com that has a home in Rutherford being listed for $20,000 for the entire week.

Southern Bergen County primed for Broncos, Seahawks

Football fans gathered at Victory Sports Bar and Nightclub at the Meadowlands to watch the AFC Championship game on huge wall to wall screens last Sunday. The area is priming for football frenzy when the Broncos will take on the Seahawks on Feb. 2 at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford.

Awarded the Super Bowl four years ago, the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks will square off for the title at MetLife Stadium on Feb. 2. But the Super Bowl has become much more than a game for the region that hosts it.

Events are offered throughout the week leading up to kickoff. From outdoor tailgating in East Rutherford to the Broadway Boulevard in Manhattan, there are many ways that area residents can enjoy the Super Bowl XLVII experience without having a ticket for the big game, but even tickets to many of those events outside the stadium are going to cost you.

Towns get into the spirit

In the borough that the game will be held, East Rutherford is holding a tailgate party. Playing off the news that those in attendance for the game could not hold a traditional tailgate at due to the scarcity of parking, the Tailgate East Rutherford will host activities from 11 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 2, just before the Super Bowl is scheduled to kickoff at 6 p.m. Admission is $10, with free admission for children under 12-years old. Food trucks will be set up and children activities will be offered. Music will be performed by BSTREETBAND and The Nerds starting at 1 p.m. The activities and music will take place near the 9/11 Memorial Park, with Park Avenue and possibly a portion of Union Avenue closed off. Town officials are expecting a crowd between 3,000 and 5,000 people to attend.

While not directly connected to the Super Bowl, a day before the big game Rutherford will be hold its annual Winter Festival Saturday, Feb. 1 from 12 to 7 p.m.

Offering ice skating on an artificial, synthetic ice skating rink, with rental skates available, horse and carriage rides, and a beer tent, the event will be held around the Lincoln Park area. The Kootz and the E Street Shuffle Band will perform in the park, while vendors will sell hot chocolate and other warm "comfort foods," and winter-themed crafts will be offered. An ice carving demonstration is planned, along with a variety of children's activities.

On the other side of the Hackensack River, Secaucus will attempt to break a Guinness Book world record for largest mozzarella at their Winter Blast at Buchmuller Park. Schedule over three days, Jan. 30 through Feb. 1, events will include ice hockey games featuring retired Devils players, a beer garden and an assortment of food trucks.

Billed as the "Pre-Game before the Big Game," Winter Blast, sponsored in part by North Jesrey Media Group, owner of the South Bergenite, dates and times are Jan. 30 from 4 to 10 p.m., Jan. 31 from 4 to 11 p.m. and Feb. 1 from 11 a.m. to midnight.

A highlight of Winter Blast will be the Food Truck Mash-Up - 30 award-winning food trucks will sell a variety of delicious foods every day of the event. First Avenue and Wilson Street in Secaucus will be closed to traffic to accommodate the food trucks and the beer garden, which will feature brews from Brooklyn Brewery, Heineken and Bud Light. Lovelectric will be performing at the beer garden on Friday and Saturday nights.

The ice rink will showcase a special Winter Blast Squirt Tournament with teams from Englewood Field Club, Bayonne Rangers, Secaucus Recreation and the Rockets Red. The sled hockey teams are NJ Freeze and Philadelphia Flyers and the Challenger Hockey team is from Brick. During non-game times, open skating will be available to whoever wants to give it a whirl. New Jersey Devils alumni players Bruce Driver, Gary Marshall and Ken Daneyko will appear at a meet and greet session on Friday, Jan. 31 at 5:30 p.m.

Spectrum Works is teaming up with Toscana Cheese Co. to set the Guinness World Record for the largest "Foot-Ball" of Mozzarella (over three hundred pounds) to raise autism awareness. Spectrum Works students and employees with autism will assist in the creation of the record breaking mozzarella football as well as miniature versions which will be sold at the event.

Online tickets are $10 per person per day, a family four-pack is $30 and an adult three-day pass is $18. Children under 10 years of age will be admitted for free. At the door, admission is $15 per person per day and a family four-pack is $40.

While others like Montclair and Hackensack have downsized or cancelled their plans, The Village of Ridgewood will has a weeklong "Pre-Game Celebration," starting Jan. 26 and ending through Feb. 2. Events will take place all over the village. There will be ice skating, show shoeing, movies, games, a chili cook-off, music and a marching band performance. The Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce is hosting.

For updates and full details see

ridgewoodchamber.com.

Party Planners

The parties that surround the Super Bowl during the week have become as big as the game itself and some area establishments are hosting some special leading up to the game.

While most bars in the area will host some sort of special, Redd's the Super Sunday Tailgate Party is being hosted by the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Priced at $595 a person, the party includes private valet parking for all guests, less than one mile to stadium (closest parking lot outside of Official NFL security perimeter). The pregame festivities will feature Hall of Famers Archie Manning and Lynn Swann guest-hosting the event. The event will also feature guest appearances from NFL Hall of Famers and celebrities from sports and entertainment. Those in attendance will be able to choose from a menu of gourmet foods, specialty dishes and an open bar with top-shelf drinks.

For those looking for options less expensive option in the shadows on MetLife can go to Kilroy's Sports Bar where $60 gets you access to both parties inside and outside. The bar is offering a special food and drink packages with table service starting at $2,000.